21 February 2011

How are you all doing?

This week was another amazing week for me! We had Zone Conference here on Friday and luckily it was right here in Juiz de Fora so we didn´t have to wake up super early. I´ve been really, really tired this week as well, Mom. I know how you are feeling! Really working hard with our baptisms and confirmations and working to find more people to teach and get to church and reactivate. It´s been a lot of running around trying to make sure everything runs perfectly. We had a really awesome experience with that the first week that I got here. We went and visited a man that lives close to us who has been inactive for about a year now, and we talked to him and just showed that we cared about him, and since that day, he hasn´t missed a single Sunday at church!! It has been so cool! We even had a family home evening at his house this last Monday and he gave the message and invited a ton of people over there, it was incredible! I love seeing all of the miracles that the Lord has done throughout my mission.

So unfortunately, we didn´t baptize yesterday. I was really bummed out! We had Jorge all ready to go yesterday, but they had daylight savings time that nobody knew about, so we all got confused with that, ended up waking up at 5 thinking it was still 6 and then he went to the church an hour early as well, nobody was there, and so he left and he wasn´t at home when we passed by and didn´t have a cell phone, so we didn´t get to talk to him until last night. But he is ready for this week and will be baptized this week!! He is the coolest guy ever!!! When we first met him, he had a huge beard and long hair and was smoking and drinking, but this last week, we saw a miracle happen, and by the time he was being interviewed on Saturday, he had stopped smoking, cut his hair and his beard, and he is a new man!!! It was so amazing to see someone change so quickly because of his desire to be better and to be baptized and straighten out his life!! He has been a lot happier since we have met him and this will be one of the most special baptisms I will have on the mission. I asked him who he wanted to baptize him and he wanted me to baptize him and he started crying and then I started crying as well. It was a really spiritual experience for me to see this man change his life completely.

So we were really, really tired yesterday since we got up really early for no reason, thinking that it was later than it really was. By the time we got home last night, we were both ready to collapse on our beds. Bishop is awesome! We were walking to our area after church and we were about to start hiking up the enormous hill that we always have to walk up, but just then bishop drove by and picked us up and drove us up the hill haha it was great! I love him and his family! The members here are absolutely amazing! I love the Brazilian people! I am so grateful to the Lord that he has put me in these amazing areas with these amazing wards and people who are here, prepared to learn about the Gospel. So this last week, I also got a wedding announcement from my friend Dailee. Remember her? She´s getting married this next week, it was so weird seeing that haha. That´s cool though. I can´t believe time is passing there, it doesn´t seem like it is. Weird seeing people getting married, oh man.

I´m getting really nervous and sad to get a new President; President and Sister Bezerra are amazing and it is going to be really really hard to replace them! When I got my package at conference, I told Sister Bezerra, ``Sister, my Mom loves me!`` and she´s like, ``I already know that!`` haha it was funny! I can´t believe we only have one more Zone conference with them before they will leave. That is really scary!! I really hope our next President does as good of a job as President Bezerra is doing! The month of January, we were the number one baptizing mission here in Brazil again!!!! How awesome is that! It has been amazing to see how Rio de Janeiro has been completely changed, being the second to last baptizing mission and moving up to the first in the country!! Usually when people think of Rio, they think of a place with a lot of iniquity and a place where the people can´t be saved and don´t want anything to do with the church or anything. But we have witnessed miracles here and have seen lives change and the Church has been growing here so much and all eyes are on Rio!! President Scott, when he visited here, said that he was sick and tired of seeing Satan taking over down here in Rio, and these last few years, we have seen President Scott´s prophecy come to pass when he said that Rio has the potential to be one of the strongest areas of church membership in the world!

I am so happy to be a part of this mission and this huge miracle that is happening here!! I am so grateful for my President and for all of the missionaries that I am serving with! I am going to cry my eyes out when I have to take off my badge and end my mission. I don´t even want to think about that. I love this place!!! I love you all and hope that you are all doing amazing!! I know this church is true! I´m grateful for the miracles I have seen here and the amazing people I have met. I love the Savior. I am getting to know Him better every day. Have an amazing day off today! Love you all!

Love, Elder McDonald